SIX OF THE BEST ON LUNA ROSSA

The Italians simply look tantalising every time they go on the water. The skill level is so high, and it is a bar they just keep on pushing higher and higher on a daily basis. Talent oozes all around the team and there’s a healthy mix of battle-hardened experience and wide-eyed enthusiasm from the new generation that they are ushering through to the pinnacle of sailing at pace. Real strength in depth is emerging.

Out on the Bay, initial take-off was assured with minimal fuss, low traveller adjustment, minute mainsheet tweaks and total confidence all round. Today the Italians opted to go six-up when the breeze came on, rotating in crew as the programme advances and the desire to maximise potential is realised.

Six-up in breeze gives massive power to the LEQ12 and the helms had delicious windward heel, flat bear-aways and added horsepower. They chopped and changed though, rifling through the sail inventory from the J1 jib down to the J4 and looked comfortable on them all – tacks and gybes were slick although the concentration seemed to be on added straight-lining as only 20 manoeuvres were recorded, but these were quality moves at 100% either foil-to-foil or very brief touch and go’s. Awesome. This team has the LEQ12 so licked that there’s perhaps a comfort zone emerging? The sailors keep pushing though, and mixed it up with some time-on-distance runs using the leeward gate but it was a workmanlike performance all round and another banker in the programme.

The young guns of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli are seriously impressing. Ruggero Tita and Marco Gradoni are the coming superstars not just of Italian sailing, but the America’s Cup itself and it will be fascinating to see how they progress through AC37 in Barcelona. Untouchable for nearly three years in the Olympic foiling Nacra 17 class, a gold medallist at the Tokyo Games of 2020 (held in 2021), Ruggero Tita is set to be one of the stars of the future in the America’s Cup. For sure, he will have a big say in AC37 and is combining an Olympic campaign to Paris 2024 with the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli America’s Cup campaign. Speaking about the day today he gave a superb interview the day after his 31^st birthday, saying: “Yeah it was really nice. I mean the sea breeze today was very strong up to 16-17 knots and we managed to sail pretty well and also the water was flat but with some swell underneath so kind of tricky. We did many jib changes and then the wind dropped so we had to give up.”

Comparing the Olympic Nacra 17 dinghy with the super-fast LEQ12 of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, ‘Ruggi’ as he’s known in the team gave a great insight, saying: “I think the biggest difference is that in the LEQ12 or the big boats you are all the way covered inside the cockpit and the feeling of the speed of the boat is much less. On the Nacra you are on the trapeze only staying attached to the boat with the foot-straps so you have much more the feeling of the speed even if you are going half of the speed or even less. So yeah, that's the biggest difference but in general I think the managing of the foil, the ride height, and the trimming of the sails, the traveller, it's very similar and there are a lot of things that we learn on the Nacra that we can bring here and vice versa, some things that we will learn here we can transfer to the Nacra.”

‘Ruggi’ is off to test himself at the Princess Sofia regatta, the traditional Olympic classes season opener that starts in Palma, Mallorca, next week and it’s this vitality of combining dinghy foiling with big boat foiling that is very much becoming a common theme across the very best sailors in this America’s Cup cycle.

Youth is shining and the Italians have some superstars in (and on) the wings.

On Water Recon Unit Notes: The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 11:30, stepped the mast and craned in undergoing the usual protocol checks at the dock to be prepared for dock-out which was scheduled at 1:15pm.

At noon there was still offshore NW breeze of the early day hours which is usually not as consistent as forecasted during these warmer spring days. Instead, the team targeted the afternoon sea breeze for some chop which filled in the Gulf just when the LEQ12 was being towed out of the harbour. The team quickly hoisted the M1 mainsail with the J2 jib and six crew members boarded the prototype. With the first self-take-off looking very composed with stable transition, the prototype headed upwind for a first tack and stopped shortly afterwards due to a speculative issue on main clew/trav. Nothing major as the LEQ12 kept on sailing, executing one more tack before bearing away and heading downwind for some gybes. The wind had increased slightly to 12-14kn according to the Recon anemometer and the team decided to lower the J2 and hoist the J4. While the chase boat dropped some marks, two for a leeward gate and one on windward, the LEQ12 self-took-off heading towards the racecourse for two legs before stopping to lower the J4 and hoist back up the J2 as breeze decreased t 9-11kn.

Further on, the LEQ12 has been towed up and kept on sailing for some legs with some successful mark rounding manoeuvres before trying out a start procedure on the leeward gate. As the sea breeze dropped further to 6-8kn, the J1 was hoisted with 4 crew members in the pods sailing for a short stint before calling it a day. A total foiling time of 62 minutes with 9 tacks, 11 gybes were recorded during the day.

Dock out: 1315 Dock-in: 1630

Onboard Today

Helms: Marco Gradoni/ Francesco Bruni

Crew: Andrea Tesei / Vittorio Bissaro / Umberto Molineris

Sails Used:

Mainsail M1 (MN1-1S): 2 hours 55 minutes

J1 (J1-1-B): 20 minutes

J2 (J2-1-B): 1 hours 5 minutes

J4 (J4-1-A): 35 minutes

Total Tacks: 9 - 6 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go.

Total Gybes: 11 – 8 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go.

Wind Strength: 13:25 SSE 10-12kn/ 14:15 SSE 12-14kn/ 15:30 SSE 7-9kn. Weather PM: 16-19°c Sunny.